The Better Half?

So the second half of the season officially begins tonight for Your San Francisco Giants, though the season is technically more than half over but traditionally the All-Star Break is considered the midway point of the season even though it’s not . . . .

Well, anyway the Jints resume play tonight after a four day layoff. The Philadelphia Phillies are in town; like everyone else in the NL East, they’re looking up at the scary good Mets and their 12 game lead. Tonight also begins the countdown to the 2007 All Star Game, which will be at Big Phone Company Park. There’ll be a logo and stuff.

Matt Morris will be on the hill tonight to start the second half

What did we do before there were logos? Now everything has to have an official logo. I blame it on the marketing weenies.

Back to the season. The Giants aren’t in too bad a spot, especially compared to where they were last year. They’re 3 and a half back in the West and a game back of LA for the Wild Card. And they’ve historically been a second half team–older players take longer to get going–and no one in the division shows signs of pulling away.

Then why am I not too sanguine about their chances?

Could it be the aging, injury-prone lineup? The sucky bullpen? The erratic closer, who makes every save an adventure? The punchless offense? The looming indictment of The Franchise, a shadow of his former superstar self who is another sliding catch or stolen base away from being out for a huge chunk of the season even if the Feds don’t get him for perjury?

Yes, it’s all those things, and the fact that it will be difficult to pull off a deadline deal. Lots of teams are still in contention. The Marlins may not be willing to deal Dontrelle Willis anymore, for example. And those teams that are selling–like the Pirates of much-in-demand first baseman Sean Casey–want blue chippers like Merkin Valdez and Matt Cain. Brian Sabean, to his credit, has so far resisted the urge to trade either of them (and with good reason: the Lunatic Fringe would carry his head on a pike down King Street if he did another Joe Nathan/Francisco Liriano type deal). But without them maybe he can’t get a deal done.

I could be wrong; this could be the year, the swan song for Barry as he leads the Giants into the postseason one last time, with Sean Casey at first base. But I doubt it.